Saturday, June 14, 2014

Rolling a kayak

Where's Sage? He's underwater! What's he doing there?

Sage rolling a kayak near a boat launch (the boat behind me was waiting to take out)

A few weeks ago, when I paddled the stretch of the Thornapple that ends at Thornapple Lake, I decided the water had warmed enough for me to attempt to roll my kayak. I took my shirt off and handed my camera to my friend, Jerry, and found a place where there were no weeds and over I went. I was like riding a bike as my paddle moved into position (an upside down high brace) as I pushed my knees into the deck of the boat and swung my hips and the boat popped back up. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I did it another few times. It was just like riding a bike!

Coming back up

When I was in college, I used to paddle a lot of white water in kayaks and rolling was a necessity. Glad I can still do it as it is also a good way too cool off on a hot day.

The water was a little over a meter deep--I could have pushed off the bottom with the paddle if I couldn't roll it back up--but after a few rolls I was comfortable in doing it in deeper water. I should say a few things about learning to roll. First thing you learn is to crawl out of the boat if you can't pop it back upright. Secondly, you learn with someone standing by you that can pull you up and help you learn to position your paddle, etc. I learned to roll a kayak when I was 19, but it has been decades since I've performed the feat. I'm glad that it came back to me so quickly.

Ditto the learning to get out of the boat first upside down. I once loaned my kayak to a friend who immediately tipped it over by accident. He was lifting the entire boat out of the water trying to get out of the thing and about drowned before I swam out to rescue him. After that, I never loaned my boat until the person could successfully exit it in my presence.

Musings

This blog contains observations on life and nature written by Sage, satire and parody written by Nevada Jack, and an occasional book review or poem. As a general rule, the author of the blog doesn't write about his work or his family. Email at sagecoveredhills [at] gmail.com